Colossal GPU! – Prototype Quad-slot RTX 40 series heatsink spotted with hidden fan

Nvidia clearly had plans to create a quad-slot RTX 40 series behemoth – Leaked heatsink design with a hidden fan

It is clear now that Nvidia had planned to create an RTX 40 series graphics card that is larger than their RTX 4090, a graphics card that may have featured a larger power limit and a huge heatsink. Now, images of a colossal RTX 40 series heatsink prototype have leaked onto the web, showcasing the scale of Nvidia’s RTX 40 series ambitions. 

What’s most notable about this heatsink isn’t its sheet size, but its design features. As you can see, this GPU heatsink is not like other Founders Edition GPUs from Nvidia, as it has a hidden central fan that adds an additional area of airflow to this GPU. Additionally, this heatsink design has a flow-through design, with this GPU’s PCB being at a right angle to this GPU’s PCIe slot, an unorthodox design that allows Nvidia to create an equally unusual, but more effective, heatsink.

With this odd PCB layout the power connector on this RTX 40 series heatsink design is connected to this graphics card design’s PCB using an integrated cable that would be hidden by the Nvidia’s Founders Edition heatsink shroud. This GPU heatsink design is said to feature 22 heat pipes and a vapour chamber.

There were rumours that Nvidia were planning to max out the potential of their Ada graphics architecture with a 600W graphics card model. This GPU was never released by Nvidia, likely due to the already strong performance of their RTX 4090, and the fact that AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX was not powerful enough to surpass Nvidia’s RTX 40 series flagship. Add on concerns about the design of 12VHPWR cables, and it is easy to see why Nvidia has axed plans to create a more power hungry graphics card, at least for now.  

Rumour has it that Nvidia has no plans to launch an RTX 4090 Ti graphics card model, though it is clear that Nvidia has the ability to do so should the need arise. It is also possible that we will see this colossal heatsink design return with Nvidia’s RTX 50 series, cooling Nvidia’s rumoured Blackwell GPU flagship. 

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